A silver lion knocker resting on the giant charcoal coloured front door signifies that something rather special lies inside this enormous self-catering house in the Cotswolds. Black and white chequered flooring beckons and draws you in, bowing and backing out into the hallway and through to the kitchen like a humble servant. A knee-buckling living room is so large that you could lose your echo in there. Style drips from every glass chandelier, seeps from every stretched, porous photographic canvas and reflects in every mirrored coffee table. Perfect for any celebration, family gathering or stylish break with friends, you can just feel the passion running through the veins of Berkeley House.
A Jacobean house with a Georgian front, its proportions are as huge as its character. Upon arrival, you will be shown a utility room you may never find again, whilst dozens of black mirror-panelled doors serve to disorientate. With sky-scraping Venetian mirrors, floor-to-ceiling windows, and walls chocka with the owner’s photography, this house is high glamour – with high hopes that its guests will understand and celebrate its eccentricity. A fusion of Hollywood-Georgian and contemporary grand, Berkeley House’s motto is ‘home from home that’s a world away’.
The owner, Swedish photographer and furniture designer Lena Proudlock, bought the house in 2003 and lived in it until 12 months ago. Furnished to her taste and adorned with her own work, this was her private house – designed by Lena, for Lena. Black dominates, with huge black fireplaces, shutters, corridors and radiators – yet space and light flood throughout. Most of the furniture was designed by ex-model Lena – but if you see the odd thing you recognise from Ikea, it’s not because she has economised, it’s because she fell in love with the piece.
Contemporary styling under Georgian coving, the double-size, double-height living room is a perfect party space. Four giant daybed sofas feel almost lost in there, whilst a 40-inch plasma hangs over a black fireplace piled high with painted white logs. Every time you enter the room you spot a different leather recliner or tub chair you hadn’t noticed before.
These lofty proportions continue through to the stainless steel kitchen with room to cater for 30 and a hanging tap so large you could shower under it. The adjoining conservatory dining room has grey studded denim chairs (Lena was crowned ‘Queen of Denim’ by World of Interiors) and a table so stretched that you’d need a relay team to pass the salt. Black plates and cake stands live under a blown-up photograph of girls wearing bikinis and masks, whilst freshly-cut white roses are stacked neatly in white bowls. Look up to the glass roof and you’ll spy blue halogen spotlights that come out to play at night. Perfectly coiffed gardens landscaped by Philip Nixon extend beyond, with a huge oblong gravel courtyard, a ‘fire pit’ and £2,500 worth of barbecue that just begs you to come out and party. Use of the Kubb set – an ancient Viking game that’s a cross between croquet and chess – is obligatory.
This passionate playfulness is applied to all eight bedrooms, yet the house is a serious work of art. Mirrors framed with light bulbs, black denim walls, huge hologram photographic enlargements; every room celebrates the dramatic side of life. A black four-poster frame in the Master Bedroom hides devilish black sheets under a crisp white duvet, while a plasma TV nestles in the en suite bathroom wall. For those seeking privacy, the Orangery & Coach House apartment in the garden boasts a white, seven-foot four-poster and its own wet room, not forgetting the 50-inch flatscreen media room – as if you could.
If your group is really sizeable, Chipping Apartment – just a few doors down – can also be rented, sleeping six; and Bay Tree Court across the square sleeps a further four. Situated in the heart of this Cotswold-stone town, all three properties are just steps from Tetbury’s shops, cafés and pubs.
Reviewed by Charlotte Crisp
